Facebook Makes SMBs Scannable

Contacting and finding businesses on Facebook just got a little easier.

The social network announced on Thursday (April 7) the launch of tools and updates that will help people to connect with businesses via Messenger faster and more conveniently. The company said that, each month, roughly 900 million people use Facebook’s messaging service, with more than 1 billion messages sent between people and businesses every month on Messenger.

Facebook said it will bring Page usernames to the forefront, helping to ease the process when people attempt to identify and get in touch with businesses. Each business Page will be assigned a unique username that the Page owner can edit if needed.

“Usernames help people find businesses on both Facebook and Messenger so they can connect with and message the businesses they’re interested in more easily,” the company explained in a blog post.

“Because each username is unique, they also help people to identify your exact business, even if you have a relatively common name.”

The company also introduced a service called Messenger Links, designed to help businesses facilitate message threads with people looking to connect with them. The direct link can be clicked on by a user to open the conversation with the business in Messenger.

Messenger Codes work in a similar style — allowing people to scan a unique code with their mobile device camera in order to open the Messenger thread with a business.

“Businesses can use Messenger Links and Messenger Codes in ads, on their website or in any other marketing channel to prompt people to reach out to them directly. Add your username to the end of the url: m.me/___ to get your Messenger Link. Messenger Code images are available for download in your Page’s inbox,” the post continued.

What will be interesting to watch is whether this marks Messenger’s first move toward a SMB payments play. QR codes are a popular alternative to NFC technology at the physical point of sale given most merchant’s ability to support the technology.  LevelUp, PayPal/Paydiant, Chase Pay and Walmart Pay all use (or in the case of Chase Pay, will use) QR codes to enable payment instore.  Of course, Starbucks is the King of the payment-enabled QR codes, which now drives more than 22 percent of all of Starbuck’s transactions.